Scan barcode
A review by dark_reader
Cormyr by Jeff Grubb, Ed Greenwood
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
This could have been good.
Co-authored by Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood. When I saw this, I thought, "Please let it be actually written by Grubb, based on Greenwood's concept and that's the only reason why Greenwood got co-billing," but no. It was written half and half. By chapter 4 I'd figured out the pattern: the book alternates chapters between a "present day" storyline and a series of chronological vignettes highlighting key points in the formation and growth of the human kingdom of Cormyr, from a time when the land was ruled by dragons, to the time of the elves, to the earliest human settlements that eventually grew into a proper kingdom, always ruled by the Obarskyr line and supported by a wizard.
The "past" chapters were quite good. Grubb was one of the better TSR staple writers, responsible along with his wife Kate Novak for Azure Bonds, The Wyvern's Spur and others. These linked short stories were varied, fun, and reasonably poignant.
The "present day" storyline was bloated and interminable. Greenwood is in his usual form here with his relentlessly irritating Renaissance Faire style, with the same stock weeping hero and sneering villain personalities that appear in all of his books. Vangerdahast is less bombastic than Elminster but otherwise there's not much space between them. Every magical secret has to have seven layers to it, every scabby noble is overconfident and easily manipulated, and almost every one of his chapters could have been cut. So much time wasted on gossip, incessantly sobbing princesses, shadowy plotting, and goofy unnecessary heroics by third-tier characters. On one level I enjoy how terrible Greenwood's books are, but in the moment they are mostly unbearable.
Or should I say, un-Baerauble? That's just one of hundreds of overwrought character names. Names like Faerlthann Obarskyr; Vangerdahast; the sword Ansrivarr; Darlutheene Ambershields; Blaerla Roaringhorn. At one point the names of 23 noble houses appeared on a single page. It's indistinguishable from Antigua: The Land of Fairies, Wizards and Heroes for the sheer number of named characters and the excessive vowels and awkward letter R in many of them. You might think that since the book covers multiple time periods that of course there would be many characters, but the biggest culprit is simply Greenwood's present time chapters.
There's an easy way to fix this book: limit the present-time chapters to three, five at most. Open with the king having fallen victim to the deadly magical illness; use that to frame the chapters that move through Cormyr's history. Have just one or a couple chapters as interludes detailing the major events in the kingdom brought on by the king's looming expected death. Then when the historical chapters catch up to present time, resolve the story. Greenwood could even still write those parts and it would be tolerable (not that he's shows any ability to write succinctly as this would require).
But no, instead we get by far the longest TSR Forgotten Realms novel up to that point, surpassed only by Evermeet: Island of Elves three years later. Those 100 pages really could have been cut.
At least the next book in my Forgotten Realms novel reading project is one by R.A. Salvatore, the only one in a four-year span because Brian Thomsen alienated most of TSR's writers. If only Ed Greenwood had had anywhere else to go.
Co-authored by Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood. When I saw this, I thought, "Please let it be actually written by Grubb, based on Greenwood's concept and that's the only reason why Greenwood got co-billing," but no. It was written half and half. By chapter 4 I'd figured out the pattern: the book alternates chapters between a "present day" storyline and a series of chronological vignettes highlighting key points in the formation and growth of the human kingdom of Cormyr, from a time when the land was ruled by dragons, to the time of the elves, to the earliest human settlements that eventually grew into a proper kingdom, always ruled by the Obarskyr line and supported by a wizard.
The "past" chapters were quite good. Grubb was one of the better TSR staple writers, responsible along with his wife Kate Novak for Azure Bonds, The Wyvern's Spur and others. These linked short stories were varied, fun, and reasonably poignant.
The "present day" storyline was bloated and interminable. Greenwood is in his usual form here with his relentlessly irritating Renaissance Faire style, with the same stock weeping hero and sneering villain personalities that appear in all of his books. Vangerdahast is less bombastic than Elminster but otherwise there's not much space between them. Every magical secret has to have seven layers to it, every scabby noble is overconfident and easily manipulated, and almost every one of his chapters could have been cut. So much time wasted on gossip, incessantly sobbing princesses, shadowy plotting, and goofy unnecessary heroics by third-tier characters. On one level I enjoy how terrible Greenwood's books are, but in the moment they are mostly unbearable.
Or should I say, un-Baerauble? That's just one of hundreds of overwrought character names. Names like Faerlthann Obarskyr; Vangerdahast; the sword Ansrivarr; Darlutheene Ambershields; Blaerla Roaringhorn. At one point the names of 23 noble houses appeared on a single page. It's indistinguishable from Antigua: The Land of Fairies, Wizards and Heroes for the sheer number of named characters and the excessive vowels and awkward letter R in many of them. You might think that since the book covers multiple time periods that of course there would be many characters, but the biggest culprit is simply Greenwood's present time chapters.
There's an easy way to fix this book: limit the present-time chapters to three, five at most. Open with the king having fallen victim to the deadly magical illness; use that to frame the chapters that move through Cormyr's history. Have just one or a couple chapters as interludes detailing the major events in the kingdom brought on by the king's looming expected death. Then when the historical chapters catch up to present time, resolve the story. Greenwood could even still write those parts and it would be tolerable (not that he's shows any ability to write succinctly as this would require).
But no, instead we get by far the longest TSR Forgotten Realms novel up to that point, surpassed only by Evermeet: Island of Elves three years later. Those 100 pages really could have been cut.
At least the next book in my Forgotten Realms novel reading project is one by R.A. Salvatore, the only one in a four-year span because Brian Thomsen alienated most of TSR's writers. If only Ed Greenwood had had anywhere else to go.